In the Mouth of Madness
by Eternal-Night-Ride
Summary: Ben Tennyson is secure in his position as the savior of the Universe. Out of nowhere, he becomes accused of committing mass murder on a Plumbers headquarters. He has an inkling of what could be causing all this. But what if it's actually something bigger?
1. The Eye of the Storm

**In the Mouth of Madness **

_Author's Note: _Man! Not another multi-chapter story. I should really learn from experience that it really is way too much work. Please review, guys. This one's a little bit more loose in plot than my other story so I could definitely use input. Unlike Three's a Crowd, I'm not going to force this one in the wee hours of the morning. So, yeah, I just warned you about longer waits.

_Pairings: _Benlie and Gwevin

_Genre: _Horror/Mystery

_Rating:_ T, might move to M

---

Chapter 1: The Eye of the Storm

Ben chewed thoughtfully at the end of his pencil. Even if he was staring intently at the paper before him, his mind was somewhere far away from the list of equations littered on the sheet. He tapped the pencil's point on the corner of his table. Then he resumed biting the eraser.

The dark eyebrow of the girl beside him nudged so far up into her forehead, the eyebrow was obscured by bangs. Licking her lips while she glanced at the teacher's desk, she was comforted with the sight of the teacher's absorbed concentration at checking assignments.

Julie was well aware of the instruction to do the math problems individually but she decided she wanted some of Ben's selective hearing problems. So she leaned towards him and asked, "Are you having trouble?"

The familiar voice burst him out of his stupor. Paper flew into the air, fluttering downwards around him. The rest of the student body had turned to see what the fuss was all about. Though they only rolled their eyes and muttered to themselves when it was just the resident weirdo smiling sheepishly.

Sighing, he began picking up the pieces of answering sheets he randomly distributed to the ground. A pink clad arm assisted him.

"Hey," he called out gently, hindering her hand from reaching the paper near his foot. A smile tugged at his lips. "You don't need to do that. I'm okay."

"I'm not going to cheat, Ben," she joked light-heartedly, trying to force down the louder giggles from her throat. Navigating her hand around his own, she quickly lifted the fallen sheet. Julie continued picking the other pieces of paper that were far from Ben.

"It's got lots of material to cheat from so you better close your eyes," was his equally jesting reply, plucking the mostly blank sheets of paper.

While she arranged the papers neatly, she looked at him and questioned conversationally, "You were a little distracted there." She handed the papers to his open hand.

Snorting incredulously at her understatement, he turned completely to face her. He explained, "I'm just thinking about tonight. Kevin says we have a lead." He wagged his eyebrows suggestively so he wouldn't have to mention exactly what he meant. There was a giggle from his listener. "Just trying to form a plan."

"A bit too early to be thinking about that, don't you think?" she suggested helpfully, pointing her pen at his unanswered questions. "This mission's more urgent."

"I'm just doing something I'm actually good at," he muttered miserably, poking dejectedly at the empty sections of his paper. Pinning the sheet down with the eraser end of his pencil, he started spinning his question sheet until they became incomprehensible to his eyes.

Staring at him fondly, the black-haired girl tried to say something comforting. Then someone pointedly cleared their throat. Both teens looked up and the teacher's irate expression met their gazes. A foot began to tap impatiently.

The savior of the Universe withered at the non-verbal reprimand, digging his face into the papers to hide his embarrassment. All the while, an apologetic smile flashed on Julie's face as she quickly returned her attention to calculation.

When the pressure of his teacher's glare lifted off, the brunette twirled the pencil between his thumb and index finger. His mind slowly drifted back to visions of night-time adventures and alien fights. Mindlessly, he began to write the solutions to the equations that didn't fully register in his mind.

---

"They keep making too much noise," the mutant declared, automatically steering the wheel at the next turn with one hand. "Like the idiots wanna get caught. Alien tech being exchanged so much you'll hear them in your sleep." The next swerve was violent enough that the girl beside him clutched around her chair even if she was buckled in. He felt the glare from her direction but ignored it with a smile. "Was easy to track 'em here."

The brunette at the backseat made an unintelligible noise to confirm he was probably listening.

"Would you please get us to the location without killing us?" the redhead grated, slapping the driver's arm painlessly.

"How could you even suggest that?" Kevin exclaimed incredulously, exaggerating his morbid shock. "Crashing my ride! Insane!" Just to scare her even more, he pressed harder on the accelerator to speed on the empty road that greeted them.

"I'm not saying you're going to let the car be destroyed," she amended, watching Ben from behind them appear to enjoy being thrown from one end of the car to the other. She returned her attention to Kevin when her cousin started to make plane noises to accompany his movements. "All I'm saying is I don't want my head to become a splatter on your windshield."

"Not happening. Won't let it," he answered resolutely, sending the car to a screeching halt in front of a desolate building. "It's hard to clean brain off the glass." To emphasize his point, he plucked a cloth from the compartment and began scrubbing gently on the window.

"Well, that's good," she stated sarcastically, releasing her death grip on the interior. Hoping dearly that she hadn't dislocated a shoulder stabilizing her position earlier, she opened the door. "Because I enjoy having a brain inside my skull."

"Let's do that again!" the brown-haired head piped in excitedly as it popped out of the door from the backseat.

Gwen shook her head, sliding a hand over her face in disbelief. "Not like some people."

The team strode cautiously towards their destination, inspecting the area for an ambush.

According to Kevin's sources, the building they were heading to was reportedly a hideaway of the Forever Knights. If they were on the right track, they could put the spanner in the rapidly increasing cases of illegal alien tech distribution for a long while. Slightly unwillingly, Squire had informed them that the process to create a ship to launch towards the dragon planet was underway. Since the massive operations of alien tech was creating such a loud buzz even if they were conducted as underground dealings, the ship was about to be completed.

This was not about to happen on Ben's watch. Especially since the watch in question kicked the butt of anyone who attempted to disrupt the peace. Confidently walking towards the building, he patted the Omnitrix as if to confirm it was there.

Expectedly, there was a rush of people that flanked his team from both sides. Unexpectedly, the visible sign of the Plumber's badge gleaned from their direction. Ben was dumbfounded about realizing that he was the one who actually noticed these things while he observed both Kevin and Gwen rush immediately into battle. The Plumbers themselves had an extremely defensive bodily posture, as though they were prepared for a confrontation. The Intergalactic police met the attacks head on.

Swearing under his breathe, he dialled the Omnitrix and slammed his palm over his choice. After transforming into an Aerophibian, he had very little time to grumble about the malfunctioning device before mucilaginous goo from the Lepidopterran Plumber pinned him downwards into the pavement.

Kevin had quickly honed in on the figure who acted the part of the superior authority figure, who happened to be a male Tetramand who cracked his neck in anticipation. Charging readily towards the guy, he formed a mace in his hand to slam into the face that was eerily reminiscent of that annoying Manny. The idea of cracking that face was just too much enjoyment, that he failed to notice the quick sidestep from his chosen opponent. He did belatedly realize the two arms that had smashed on his back.

As he slammed to the floor, he smiled deviously when the Tetramand snapped his arms back in pain. He practically jumped back to a stand as he used an arm to gain momentum and kick the Tetramand with both legs.

Gwen was starting to doubt whether she should continue her attack but the rampaging Petrosapien broke through the three consecutive shields that she raised. The fourth one was beginning to crack, splinters falling at the sides. From the corner of her eyes, she noticed the Forever Knights quickly loading their varying alien tech into a large truck behind the building.

She raised her hand to at least puncture through the wheels of the truck with her manna but was interrupted by the gemstone hands that gripped her entire form. The dust blowing from the speeding truck taunted her enough that she kicked angrily on the Petrosapien's chest repeatedly.

Using the neuroshock blasts from his eyes, Jetray attacked the Lepidopterran into stopping his release of the incredibly smelly liquid fastening him firmly onto the ground. In the air, he raised both hands to signal a seize fire.

"Stop! Stop!" he attempted to shout through the commotion, his shrill voice piercing enough through noises. The attention of everyone in the field focused on him, just right in time for the Tetramand to stop in the process of bludgeoning his fist into Kevin face. "We're not your enemy!"

There was a moment of silence. Dust cleared out around the battle.

Strangely enough, the peace lasted for only a few moments before the Tetramand holding Kevin against a tree dropped the mutant and turned to glare visibly at Ben. The teen didn't even have time to flinch before an energy net thrown by the Plumber officer wrapped around the Aerophibian.

Electricity travelled through the mesh. All he heard was the sound of his cousin shouting his name in alarm before everything blacked out.

---

Groggily, he opened his eyes to the sight of his cousin and his friend clamped in alien tech that restrained their arms and legs uncomfortably to their body. He navigated his hand around the limited movement he could achieve within the net to wipe his cheek of the now dried drool on his cheek. Ben observed the Plumbers quietly for a while so that he could recollect coherence back to his sleep-clogged brain.

"Some Plumber you guys are if you don't even know the guy who owns the Omnitrix," the red-haired girl snapped, struggling uselessly within the metal donut squeezing her body.

The Tetramand was clenching his teeth evidently, the muscles in his jaw tensing to signify so even if his mouth wasn't open.

"I don't like this kid," the Lepidopterran stated, hovering over the girl in question to inspect her while she retreated as much as her confined body could. "Can I shut her up?"

His superior remained quiet, folding all four arms across his chest.

"That's called police brutality," Gwen explained in that snooty manner that she used on Ben back then when they were kids. The frustration of having their operations halted by what she assumed was a misunderstanding picked at the edge of her patience.

"I thought you were kinda cute but now you're just annoying," the Lepidopterran continued, dismissing her comment. This caused Gwen to recoil back in horror at the flying creature who was floating much closer towards her. Ben continued being silent, as if to dwell more on the amusement he gained from the situation.

"Okay, you try anything and I'll have your head on a platter faster than you can say stink bomb, smelly," the mutant barked at the Lepidopterran confrontationally, having pushed himself upwards despite the awkward squat position the metal was forcing him to take. When the metal began to whine at the strain of Kevin's struggle, the Petrosapien beside him forced him to sit back down on the ground.

"Will you all shut up?" the Tetramand finally hissed, standing up to tower threateningly over the bickering group. "We're just waiting for Sleeping Beauty to get up so when we can get moving."

As if using this as a cue to make whatever grand entrance a rumpled human boy trapped in a mesh could achieve, he made his presence known with, "I'm awake. Get talking."

His cousin mumbled about how unbelievable Ben was being, but nobody paid much attention.

The Tetramand simply nodded his head toward his Petrosapien subordinate, who walked towards Ben.

While the Plumbers were preoccupied with facing Ben, the red-head made her hand glow with manna and silently, slowly, sliced through the metal restraints surrounding her. The older teen smirked upon seeing this, morphing his finger to an implement that could pick through the machinery.

A warrant was opened, the Petrosapien reading directly from the document. "Benjamin Kirby Tennyson --" There was a male snicker from the background that was thankfully ignored by the officers but laced an embarrassed blush on Ben's face. "You are under arrest for the destruction of Fatum Plumbers headquarters --" the teen vaguely remembered an excursion where they had a stop over at Fatum since the Peace treaty could wait while they filled their gurgling stomachs, "and the murder of all the officers present in the establishment during the 16th cycle of the Fatumian moon."

All the blood washed from Ben's face. One word mocked him, constantly repeating inside his head until the word almost became nonsensical.

_Murder._


	2. Predator

Chapter 2: Predator

Red eyes. A mirror that reflected the anarchy of images before him, splashing into his vision, staining the panorama. Authoritatively marching down the dark den of insurgence, a blind attack was swiftly defended. The retaliation was disproportionate, but a complete necessity.

The figure searched constantly within the area for his objective. There were other eyes in the room. Observing. Questioning. Mocking. He tore through the barricade of flesh before him, hacking and slashing at random to simply dispose of the immediate threat. They yielded easily underneath his power.

A smirk appeared on his pale face. The screaming continued.

---

There were always enemies. Maybe they hid in shadows or were in plain sight, sitting in the daylight. Either way, there were enemies.

The creature that contained him had become so overconfident, blissfully unaware of the shadows that dogged his every step. Ever since the foolish overconfidence, the greatest opportunity arose. It was like a bait that's been sprung, badly managed by the person who did so. The creature couldn't possibly consider feeling secure under such circumstances. So he bit the bait.

The world was washed with red.

His murmurs became louder as his form became more distinct. He made it difficult to say no to his suggestions when he was just that _convincing_.

---

Everything was a chore. When his stomach rumbled, he filled it with the necessary requirements to quiet the demand. It felt like shovelling gravel through his tongue. Taste had become evasive that in his desperate search for the sensation he consumed more and attempted much wider options. People just seemed to find such a quirk endearing. In the rare moments the taste returned, he greedily savored the feeling. In its absence, he concocted its pale memory.

The smells of food were less enticing. Sometimes he would forget to eat. And the food would be right in front of him. Her perfume was so light it just disappeared, even when he dug his face into her black, black hair.

Touch. The feeling of his fingers running through her hair. The sensation of her skin against his. The tickling breath she released against his ear when she giggled at some humorous off-hand comment he made. Numb. He considered the possibility of pressing his hand on her skin that much tighter, just in case he felt it if he was a bit more forceful. But she would stop laughing. Since his hearing seemed in perfect condition, he wanted to relish in whatever of his senses he still had left. He hoped that wouldn't disappear too.

Occasionally, he would lie in his bed simply staring at the ceiling. He would wonder blankly about nothing in particular. Lately, even his thoughts became too fast to grasp. He would realize afterwards that he had just stared at the roof for hours doing absolutely nothing.

The jumbling thoughts were articulate sometimes. At that point, he wondered if he was somehow sharing his sensations with somebody else, which would be why he felt less. Then his mind would race again and he'd just forget.

Gray colored his days. Gray clouds shielded the sun, their shadows that fell on gray buildings. Everything seemed so muted that even the reflection staring back at him was colored gray.

---

He has waited for far too long. Sitting in the back of this creature's eyelids, anticipating a chance to strike. All he needed was a push. He waited in the darkness, sidling to the creature's side and handed suggestions; ideas. He had better ideas than his keeper. He was eternally patient and was itching with impatience. In the end, all he really needed was that particular opportunity. A hole. A wound that gaped wide enough to push through. So many opportunities came and past. The creature's strength of character had been too much then, so frustratingly stubborn that shields were raised before he could make his way to the exit.

So he waited. The wait was long but was incredibly fruitful once the turn out presented itself. Now he was free. No chains, no restrictions, no boundaries. The entire universe as his playground.

He breathed air, gulping it as though he was a man who had found the few droplets of water he searched the never-ending desert for days for. What a liberating experience it was.

The crunch of the skull underneath his foot echoed within the cavernous building.

---

Confusion. Memory lapses. Strange jumps in logic. He told no one because he knew he could handle things himself. Dragging anyone else through his problems was something he couldn't even consider. He would rather protect other people rather than have others coddling him. He was scared of the concept of needing anyone else's help. How could he protect the people he loved if he couldn't take care of his own issues?

The eyes in the room were judgmental. They probably thought he didn't notice. Everybody seemed to interpret him as dense enough to have little perception. But he _noticed_. Whatever lay in waiting within the back of his mind nudged and pointed. It jeered him much more loudly than the discreet stares of the people that surrounded him.

It pushed and pushed until the murmurs he thought were only on the edge of his hearing grew louder. The buzzing sound was great enough that his confusion exacerbated.

He had to leave to clear his mind. The steps of his shoes rang louder on the floor than he would have liked, bringing him an unwanted migraine. What was in front of him made him stop abruptly. Was the gaping chasm before him all inside his head?

One thing was for certain: he was standing on the edge and staring into the dark abyss that coiled temptingly. The gulf appeared to be surrounded by rows upon rows of gleaming teeth. It couldn't possibly be real. Maybe his mind was interpreting the images wrong. The confusion made him step that much closer to it. His foot dangled hesitantly. In desperation, he allowed himself to fall.

Behind his tightly closed lids, he could see the color of his own eyes. It was washed in red.

---

_Author's Notes: _Okay, the plot is set. Just writing it would be the challenge. The ending, though? Not so sure. I've been known to torture characters I like. And I like Ben… Uh-oh. Unexpectedly, this was a relatively short chapter so it was easier to write and release faster. Hope the quality has stayed consistent.

**Read and review please. **


	3. Problem

Chapter 3: Problem

_The swirls of Fatum began to blend into a more solid color, turning the planet into a stone gray rock that floated against the backdrop of space. Their ship drifted farther away. Fingers raised against the image, he watched the star that Fatum revolved around wink in and out of his vision. _

"_Stop staring at it, Ben," interfered a reprimanding female voice, its owner stepping in to cover his view. A thin orange eyebrow was raised on her face. The expression was almost a complete copy of the one his own mother used whenever he had just done something ridiculous. Her hand, containing a bag of ice, was outstretched. "Your headache's going to get worse."_

_Pouting childishly, he petulantly swiped the bag of ice from her. The bearer of the Omnitrix had a headache the size of the Universe. To alleviate the pounding threatening to break his skull open, he plopped the bag of ice on his forehead._

"_Where'd you go off to anyway?" the driver of the ship asked, hanging his arm over seat to stare at the pathetically groaning hero. "That hunk o' rock's not exactly famous for tourist attractions." The older boy paused for a moment of contemplation. "Unless you _really_ like rocks."_

"_Just had a walk," the brunette moaned, forcefully rubbing the ice over his forehead as if this action would help. Then again, the pointed edges of the ice cubes created a slight pain that numbed over the one coming directly from his head. "I didn't want to watch you two make kissy faces at each other. Didn't wanna puke my lunch."_

"_Oh, act your age, Ben," his cousin snapped, slapping a wet cloth over his face. She ignored the sound of Ben's body dropping on the floor when he lost his balance trying to avoid the hit. Gwen headed to sit beside the driver._

"_Well, there is that Plumbers headquarters," Kevin amended, pivoting back to concentrate on navigating around the maze of floating space debris. "But that's still no tourist attraction."_

_While the hero with a migraine lay quietly on the floor, something niggled at the back of his mind about the comment. However, the hammering sensation behind his eyeballs made him disregard this. Curling up into a foetal position, he pestered everyone else on the ship by whining loudly of his condition._

---

"Wait a second," the girl iterated directly after the warrant was read. The manna that was previously slicing her way out of the alien tech disappeared because of how flabbergasted she was. "You've got to have proof--"

The Tetramand superior deactivated the machinery containing Ben, the energy net disappearing around his slumped form. Roughly, the Petrosapien hauled the stunned teen to his feet.

"One of the few things salvaged from the wreck that your friend caused was the video surveillance," the Tetramand explained impatiently, his lips pressed into a thin line. "So yeah, missy, we're pretty sure it's him."

Shaking her head dismissively over that reasoning, she continued, "I'm talking about his evil clone, _genius_." The restraint around her wedged open when she pulled her arms outwards, her hands glowing with manna. The mutant beside her followed her lead, smashing the metal donut easily. Gwen authoritatively placed her fists firmly on her hips.

When the Lepidopterran started to fly towards them, the Tetramand simply raised his arm to stop his subordinate. Though the knuckles on the raised fist cracked violently enough to suggest a desire for an upcoming fight.

Quickly realizing the intent, the mutant stepped forward and shielded the girl partially behind him. A murderous glare was sent, presenting the offer of an 'I dare you' more accurately than words could.

"Albedo of the Galvan was in prison at the time of the attack," the Petrosapien intruded, his voice was a brook of infinite patience that cut the evident crackling tension between his superior and the quarter Anodyte. "He has been removed from possible suspects, leaving only Benjamin Tennyson."

The person whose name was dropped grimaced at the mention of the full name, instinctively flinching to it as he always did when in trouble.

He murmured quietly to himself, "I wouldn't kill anyone. I _couldn't_," the wafting breeze subduing out the words. The disturbed expression on his face at being correlated to a murder showcased the discomfort he felt at such an unthinkable act. The savior of the Universe had just been accused of raising his hand against those who assisted justice to prevail and _killing_ them. For no apparent reason. He dwelled on the memories of Fatum; its barren, bleak landscape strangely setting the stage for a peaceful and quiet society. And they had been on a peace mission for another planet at the time they visited there.

Gwen Tennyson observed the silent flashes of emotion on her cousin's face, her protectiveness rising with every pained quirk of his eyebrows. Fire burned in her chest and manna collected in her clenched fists.

"I'm not letting you take my cousin," she stated determinedly, her body crouching in preparation to attack the Plumbers if they so much as budged from their position. Behind her, the resounding crack of stone denoted her companion readying himself to help.

---

"_So what did you do when you went off?" the redhead asked curiously, stepping beside her cousin as they left the political convention._

_Brown eyebrows knitted together in deliberation, he stared in a far off distance. With a wavering mellow voice, he answered uncertainly, "I don't know."_

---

Finally lifting his head up, Ben moved forward a little but was just as quickly pulled back by the Petrosapien holding him. Nonetheless the action did what it needed to do and redirected his cousin's attention to him.

"Gwen, I remember something," he piped in, his green eyes glittering at being able to recall this information from the current muck that was his memories.

"What?" she asked, perplexed as to what he meant.

"Red, Gwen," the male Tennyson said, his solid declaration seeming so evident to him. "Red."

Still slightly uncertain, Gwen faced the Plumbers again to plead Ben's case, "I'm sure there's another explanation for this. Ben may beat people up but he draws the line on killing."

"Yeah, he's not _that_ cool," Kevin added simply, being elbowed after the statement. He rubbed mindlessly at the place where he had been nudged. Glancing at her pointed glare, he revised his claim, "Right. Murder's not cool."

"That's nice, kid," the Tetramand replied uninterestedly, walking towards the other Plumbers to stand closer together. "Tell it to the magister on the trial." A bright flash of light and the figures teleported to their vehicle.

The Anodyte had released a ball of pink energy at their direction too late, the manna carving through the space the Plumbers used to fill right towards a row of trees. After processing the absence of the Plumbers from the area she attacked, she grunted in frustration and kicked at the rocks underneath her foot.

A comforting hand lay on her shoulder, its presence was enough to stop her from throwing a fit.

---

Humming. The engine was buzzing, vibrating the surface of the ship enough that it allowed him to watch his fingers quiver. Exhaling the word 'cool', he observed the rest of the vessel's interior as the vehicle shot into space.

Seriousness was shared among the Plumbers that were escorting him to prison. Only the Lepidopterran was producing any kind of noise to show he was actually alive. The teenager was finding the officers mind-numbingly boring. He preferred to distract himself rather than go back to dwelling on the situation he faced, before the lead settled down his stomach again.

Turning to the Tetramand beside him, he asked curiously, "How come you know about Sleeping Beauty?"

"I'm half human. Read some human literature at some point," was the abruptly spoken answer. The Tetramand pivoted to glower at him. "Now shut up."

"You don't look the type," Ben continued to annoy, his interest perked even more, "That reads fairytales, I mean."

This time, the short fuse of the superior clicked back into place and removed all pretence of professionalism. The four-armed creature cracked his knuckles, threatening, "D'ya wanna go back to sleep? 'Cause I can arrange that."

Silence.

"Pretty, pretty princess."

A punch torpedoed down the hero's face but he successfully evaded it before he sported a black and blue mark on his eye. Air whizzed past his cheek, tickling his skin to alert him how close he could have been to having a dent for a face. Opening one eye to peer at the Tetramand, he watched the being pant in aggravation.

"Sir," the Petrosapien intervened, the even, cool voice a perfect match to the smooth gemstone surface of the creature's form. "The Prisoner must remain unharmed and protected for the duration of the transport."

"Yeah, I know. Whatever," the superior growled, disgruntled. He peered closely at the face that could barely contain a smile and pointed his index finger in an intimidating way. "Now shut up."

After the commotion died down and everyone was seated back down quietly, the Lepidopterran crept closer towards their prisoner.

"I kinda like you, kid," the flying creature snorted in amusement, bringing a bright grin on the teenager's face.

It was a short-lived smile. Ben slapped his forehead when he remembered something important.

"What is it?" the Lepidopterran queried inquisitively, his head tilted to the side.

Ruffling his fingers through his hair, the brunette groaned, "Worst. Timing. Ever. We have a date tomorrow!"

---

With a grateful slurp of the noodle, Julie placed her chopsticks down to the side. Suddenly, she felt something tickling her nose. Unable to hold the feeling in, she sneezed.

"Bless you," her mother said automatically.

"Thank you," Julie responded, dabbing her face with a handkerchief.

---

The information clicked. Gwen stared at the mutant in front of her and murmured confidently, "It had to be Albedo. Somehow."

"He hates your cousin's guts," the older boy added with a shrug, observing the anxiety slowly seep out of the red-haired girl upon her decision to take another course of action. "Wouldn't put it past him to make a frame up."

"They won't listen so easily since we're novices at being Plumbers," she affirmed to the ground, placing her hand underneath her chin. "I thought because he was Ben, having saved the Universe and all," she rolled her eyes, "talking would be easier. Guess not." Green eyes slowly ascending to meet her companion's inquisitive gaze, a smile began to tug at her lips. "What we need is someone with expertise."

"Leverage," the combination of solids breathed out in realization, showcasing a toothy grin. "Smart. Always knew I was dating a genius."

Eyes widening, she tried to confirm, "Wow, Kevin, did you just--?" A devious smirk that competed with his own spread on her lips.

Shaking his head fervently in useless denial, he stumbled backwards with his hand raised. "No. No I didn't." If he was made of flesh, he would have been blushing furiously at that point.

Laughing at his discomfort, she grabbed his wrist to head down the path towards his car. With a confident smile, she uttered, "Come on. Let's get ourselves some leverage."

---

He sighed for the umpteenth time. Kneading his forehead, he tried to drown out the ringing shouting match that happened in the background. Quills twitching, he forced himself to concentrate at the information detailed on the database.

"You are unbelievable!" a female voice screeched, followed closely by feet stomping angrily.

His head collided with the table in front of him.

"What? What?" the male voice demanded, the tone so incredulous that the pitch rose steadily with every syllable that dropped from his mouth. "I was just doing my part! You know, like I was told to."

Repeatedly lifting his head and allowing it to fall on the smooth table, the rhythmic banging became the backdrop to the angry screaming behind him. He groaned audibly at the annoying sounds that were preventing him from progressing through his notes.

"Well, that's wonderful!" she grated sarcastically, slapping her companion's chest again and again in annoyance. "Because you just screwed it up again! You keep letting your fists think for you. Can you just give your brain to someone else? 'Cause I'm sure that other guy could totally use it better."

"Helen!" the Tetramand teenager snapped at the berating, ego smarting at the insult towards his intelligence.

"Why don't you both shut up?" Pierce intruded flatly, hoisting his head to glare at them.

"Well, it's Manny's fault," the Kineceleran girl reasoned, crossing her arms across her chest defensively. "He started this."

"No, you did!" the one named Manny interjected, raising all four arms in the air disbelievingly. "You started shouting at me and telling me off!"

"You started it by being stupid," Helen retorted, her tail flicking violently when she turned to face the Tetramand confrontationally.

He absolutely hated having to baby-sit the two. Vein throbbing on his forehead, Pierce opened his mouth to launch another lengthy chastise.

"Everyone, come on. Settle down," the calm voice of an old man intruded before the fighting could escalate. The figure entered the room, dressed in a flowery T-shirt and carrying a plate of something suspicious that twitched every now and again. "Let Pierce read in silence."

Sheepishly looking at the ground, Helen and Manny apologized.

"Thanks, Max," Pierce sighed gratefully at the old man, who simply nodded his head and smiled.

---

_Author's Notes: _Du-du-du-dun. **Read and review please!** :D

Oh, I would like to thank the people who reviewed before. It's so heart-warming to know you guys like it so far. Hope this one was just as good.

Trust-Deceit- You seem to be the only one who likes the second chapter. ^_^; We share that opinion, though. XD


	4. Solution

Chapter 4: Solution

The squid patty's tentacle flinched within the hamburger when Max happily bit into it. Whatever semblance of peace that could occur in the Plumber's Helpers team had settled.

Cooper busily tinkered on a workbench at the far corner of the Rustbucket, pieces of machinery levitating while they slowly rearranged to become an alien tech weapon. Pierce pointedly sat in between Helen and Manny, who were both still evidently twitchy about their previous argument and waiting for the other person to pick it back up. Manny, in particular, itched at the idea of an argument even with Pierce. Fortunately, the Porcupine-like teen was busy ignoring his companions for the notes on the database. So no confrontation rose. On one hand, Alan sat on a couch napping away his exhaustion from his last practice session - one which involved improving on his Pyronite capabilities.

A green hourglass shaped device beeped. The sound rang loudly enough to turn the head of the people in the room. From the corner of the room, angry muttering followed the sound of falling metal on the floor.

The old man noted that the sauce from squashed spiders added a nice touch to the burger before he placed the food down. Dusting his hands, he picked up the badge and clicked it.

"Grandpa Max?" a female voice asked through the flashing green device.

The blond boy at the end of the vehicle stood up quickly from his chair in excitement, exclaiming, "Gwen?" Blue eyes glittered with affection.

Snorting loudly, the Tetramand teased in a sing-song tone, "Cooper's got a girlfriend!"

The Kineceleran girl sitting beside Pierce began to glare at the red creature making childish kissing faces in the air.

Flushing a bright red, the pudgy technopath sighed wistfully while staring at nowhere. This seemed to only cause Manny to laugh even harder. He only stopped when Helen slapped his arm in annoyance.

"I'm here, Gwen. What is it?" Max answered, curious about the urgency in her tone. The point was that his grandson's team usually handled things perfectly fine alone. They never actively searched Max anymore. Ever since undertaking the Plumber's Helpers, he had turned his complete attention to training his new team. It wasn't the fact that it was urgent was what was curious, instead he was wondering about what kind of situation would require his presence.

"Ben's in trouble," his granddaughter stated grimly. "We need your help."

Experience helped to increase his instinct that he listened well to the sense of foreboding he felt. "What kind of trouble?" he hazarded, standing up as if to ready himself.

"He's been accused of murder. They've taken him to a Plumber prison," she explained, worry seeping through the communication. "They wouldn't listen to us reason and we were hoping you could help."

_So. It was that bad._

"Alright," the old man replied determinedly. "I'm going to head back to Bellwood. Do I need to bring a means of transportation to get us to the prison or does Kevin have one at hand?"

A moment of silence.

"Not Kevin," Gwen answered simply. "But I know someone who does. I just have to, uh, find an excuse to borrow it."

"Do that. I'll be on my way," Max responded, clicking the Plumber's badge off and plucking his jacket from the chair when he stood.

Turning to face the expectant expressions of the children around him, he directed his attention to the table that contained three of the Helpers.

"Pierce," he addressed the teen in the middle, whose expression became extremely alert. "I'm leaving you in charge for a while. Help everyone get ready for the next training mission, okay?"

"Right," Pierce agreed resolutely.

When Max exited the door of the RV, the Tetramand sneered at Pierce to declare, "You're still not the boss of me."

Before the Porcupine-like teen or his sister could retort, a drowsy voice interfered, "What's going on? Where's Max?"

"Gwen called," the evidently love-sick blond explained. "She said that Ben's in prison for murder. Max left to help get him out." Shivering at the idea of being in prison, Cooper added, "That's as scary as that Lovecraft MMORPG I participated in a long time ago."

Nobody took notice of that comment since all his companions easily fielded through those type of comments from Cooper after some time. Even Manny realized that calling the kid 'Nerd!' had gotten old after a few times.

"He's been framed for it or something," the half-Pyronite stated; there was complete certainty in his voice. He yawned widely, brushing the sleep from his eyes.

"How'd you know?" Manny egged on.

Lounging more comfortably in the seat, Alan remarked, "Dude. It's Ben. You sound like you never met him."

---

The quarter Anodyte had been staring at the phone for a long enough while that Kevin considered plucking the thing from her fingers and doing it himself. She reasoned that he had the conversational ability and tact of a five year old, therefore she would have to be the one to call.

He released a breath of relief when her finger edged towards the keypad.

Unexpectedly, the phone rang before she could call. The number on the screen made her green eyes widen in surprise. She clicked the green button.

"Hello, Julie," she greeted, feigning enthusiasm through her nervousness. The red-head started picking at her black vest for nonexistent lint. "I was just about to call you. I swear you're a psychic." She forced a chuckle through her horrible joke.

"No, just empathic," the girl on the other end jested, an amused note filtering through the receiver.

"Ha-ha! That's a good one. Um…" Gwen tried, beads of sweat rolling down her forehead. "So, should I tell you what I was about to call you for or do you want to tell me your thing first?" _She wanted Julie to go first. Please, please, please. She didn't want to tell andit'sontheedgeofhertongue. _

"I guess, my thing first?" Julie answered, obviously noticing the awkwardness from Gwen's question.

_Huh. Empathic indeed._

"It's just that Ben wasn't answering his phone," Julie explained meekly, slightly sheepish about how mundane her problem must be. There was just no issue of her that could compare to fighting aliens planning to take over the world. "We were supposed to meet up tomorrow. I was just trying to find out if I was supposed to wait after tennis practice or go straight to Mr. Smoothy."

The panic went straight back. The red-haired girl nervously smiled at no one, then bit her lip and then chuckled uneasily.

"Oh, he does that sometimes. You know him, he spaces out like a complete weirdo." Gwen slapped her forehead. Not only did she make a bad excuse but she also insulted her cousin to his girlfriend. _Smart. _She was so concerned about Ben's predicament she'd lost all sense.

Thankfully, Julie only giggled rather than taking offence. "Yeah, I think it's really cute," she declared sweetly. That statement allowed Gwen to conclude how well Ben and Julie suited each other. "Maybe I'll call him about that stuff tomorrow. So what did you want to talk me about?"

Trying to compose herself, Gwen requested, "We were kind of hoping you would let us borrow Ship. We're going on another off-planet mission. Don't worry, we'll make sure he's safe. I know how much he means to you."

"Mind telling Ben about that?" the girl on the other end joked, giggling light-heartedly. When Gwen attempted to join her laughter, it was just so painfully forced that Julie picked up on it immediately. "Is there anything wrong?"

"No!" the redhead replied too quickly, too defensively, shaking her head vigorously. "Nothing like that. At all. Really."

There was a few moments of quiet.

"Sorry," Julie said kindly. "I can sort of tell you're lying."

"What? What?" Gwen bit out, facing the mutant in front of her. The older boy's eyebrows rose at her display. "Do I sound like I'm lying?" Annoyingly enough, Kevin refused to humor her. He scrunched his nose and contorted his mouth while nodding in affirmative. She made the point of frowning at him.

"Yeah…" Julie confirmed simply, prolonging the word.

A heavy sigh escaped from Gwen. She told the truth, "Ben's not here, that's why he's not answering his phone. He's in prison."

"For what?" Julie asked incredulously.

"He's been accused of murder," Gwen iterated slowly, stretching the time needed to actually produce the last word. Before the girl on the other end could say anything, Gwen quickly amended, "It's obviously just a big misunderstanding. That's why we need to use Ship to get to where they took him and get him out."

"Can I come?"

"I'm sorry?" the redhead asked in confusion.

"I know I'm probably not going to be much help," the girl started, embarrassed. "It's just that I want to be there and I'll give help however I can. Even if it's just keeping my mouth shut."

"But this might take longer than your curfew," Gwen attempted to dissuade her.

"That's okay. I can afford to be more adventurous," Julie convinced. "My life can get pretty boring sometimes."

Sighing, the teenage girl ran her fingers through her ponytail and conceded, "Alright. We'll come pick you and Ship up. See you then." She hung up.

"I thought I didn't have tact," was the first thing the tactless mutant had to say.

"Can it, Kevin. I know," the redhead bit out, shoving her phone roughly into her jeans' pocket.

There was one other thing Kevin was known for other than his great interest in profits, and that was his inability to listen to orders, requests or anything that he hadn't concocted himself. This was why he continued, "Why'd ya just become a social retard there?" There was pause. The miserable expression on her face made him mentally kick himself. "…Okay, I didn't mean it that way. Just saying, even I can tell."

"I hate being the bearer of bad news," the girl replied truthfully, a sad smile tugging on her lips. "And I'm just concerned, you know?" Memories of a fun summer. "Ben and I've been hanging around for so long that I feel that I have to look out for him. Somebody has to. He looks out for everybody else." _Who watches the watchmen? _"And he attracts trouble like ants are attracted to food."

"You're babying him," he concluded. "He can handle it. He's been to the Null Void. A little prison's nothin'. At least he's inside, not out there running from things trying to eat and, or kill him."

She watched his face closely. While the statement must have conjured a bag of recollections, his face remained blank. Serious but blank. Something inside her itched to ask. However, it was inappropriate and there were more pressing matters at hand.

"Okay." No amount of comforting was likely to alleviate her fears. They needed to be proactive. When they got moving, they got things done. Moping and fussing were for passive people. She could break the arm of someone who would dare call her passive.

They headed to the car to pick up Julie and met up with Grandpa Max after that.

---

There were brief greetings amongst the team. However, they remained focused on the task at hand and determinedly went on their way with no further ado. A Null Void portal was opened and Ship readily flew inside. It was largely uneventful travelling inside Ship. Occasionally, assaults would shake and batter the transformed Galvanic Mechamorph but the large arsenal of advanced weaponry in his form took made it easy to dispose of the attackers.

The one who evidently enjoyed the trip the most was the driver, who eagerly opened fire on everything that moved. At some point, the increasingly irate female Tennyson stopped him before he started firing on random innocents. He begrudgingly complied and only attacked when the creatures nearby signified that they were seeking to confront the ship.

A heavily barricaded tower came into view, the structure equally menacing as the surroundings that contained it. With a simple nod, Grandpa Max confirmed that it was the Plumber prison they were after.

The Mechamorph descended and landed safely on a cliff-like protrusion on the floating landmass. It was long enough to be an airstrip so they knew they could use it as one. An officer from inside the prison confirmed whether they were friendlies or not and Max Tennyson flashed his Plumber's badge at the visual communicator. The looming gates opened, allowing Ship to go inside.

Kevin noted that the defensive alien tech around the place had to be deactivated when said tech flickered out. There were Plumbers who seemed to appear on the smaller towers at the top, behind glass windows. He assumed they were to manually shoot their weaponry at any opportunistic attack. The place was so well-guarded that it really did fit in with being in the Null Void.

"Good boy, Ship," the pink-clothed girl on the passenger seat complimented, stroking the interior. The Mechamorph enthusiastically repeated its name and flashed green.

He returned to his normal form after they exited, dropping happily into Julie's arms.

The walk towards the inside was brief. A familiar Lepidopterran welcomed them, inducing Gwen to groan irritably.

"Hey, it's the cute girl," the Stinkfly-look alike declared, four eyes peering at her closely. "Are you still annoying?"

"Get away from me or I'm filing a harassment claim," she snapped, crossing her arms in front of her leaning away when he hovered closer.

Flying a little bit farther, the creature 'tsked', "You're still annoying."

Being outside of a metal restraint that kept his limbs pasted to his torso changed the mutant's opinions drastically. If there were no threats involved and the atmosphere was less tense, Kevin reacted suitably to the situation. So he chuckled at the Lepidopterran's not at all subtle interest, much to Gwen's irritation. This made her hiss at him to shut up.

Seriously, Max intruded, "We wanted to see the surveillance tapes on the attack on Fatum HQ as well as interrogate another one of the prisoners here."

"Wow, you guys are still on about that," the Lepidopterran gasped approvingly, evidently impressed. "Let me tell ya, you're a pretty darn dedicated bunch. Kudos to you."

"Could you help us to central observation room or do we need to speak with your superior?" Max tried to affirm.

"Nyeh, you don't need ta do that. You're Max Tennyson. You're like a higher rank already. Don't need the uptight guy in this," the Lepidopterran stated dismissively. He turned to lead them down the corridors. "I'll take you there."

When they arrived at the observation room, they found an elderly Transylian was typing speedily on one console to another, a simple budge of his chair and he would zoom towards the next one. All the monitors flickered with top corner angles of different prison cells. The number of them was vast enough that a human would have been unable to keep up with it.

Julie murmured an astonished, "Wow. So Cool," at the complex machinery around her.

"Foetor?" the Transylian called out, to which the Lepidopterran floated over to him in response. This obedience simply earned him a smack on the head with something that looked like a screwdriver in the Transylian's hand.

"Ow!"

"Did you even get the authorization to let these people in?" the Transylian's decrepit and sarcastic voice rasped, threateningly glaring at the Lepidopterran nursing this head with a hand.

"No, but --" the one named Foetor tried to say, but received another hit. This time, the screwdriver smacked on one of his eye stalks soundly. "Ow!"

"I'm sorry about all this," Max intruded, just as the elderly Transylian raised the screwdriver yet again. "I know you must be strapped for time but we just needed to see the video surveillance on the Fatum case."

Grumbling under his breath, the Transylian sighed shakily and swivelled his chair to look at the visitors. "Max Tennyson. You're here to plead your grandson's case, I suspect." He sighed when the man nodded. "You're already here. There's no point in contacting that constantly irritated Tetramand." He waved them forward. "Come, come. I don't have a lot of time, like you mentioned. Let's get this over with."

---

"Well that was great," the redhead muttered angrily. "The guy who looks like Ben might as well have waved at the camera and posted a sign on his shirt saying I'm Ben Ten."

"I don't remember seeing that," the Lepidopterran piped in from directly beside her.

"You're not the brightest crayon in the box, are you?" Gwen insulted, placing her hands on her hips.

"Do you get sweeties for being annoying? Cause you're good at it," was Foetor's comeback. The snickering from the other side of Gwen was silenced with a slap on the torso of the person laughing.

"This one might help us more," Max announced, walking resolutely down the corridor.

The Lepidopterran stopped at one of the doors, identical to many that ran on that wall except the prisoner inside was important to the team's investigation.

"Yenyway, we here. This is where I leave you guys, got to do some patrolling and junk," Foetor told them, shrugging his shoulders. He unlocked the door for them and told Max the password to lock and unlock it. He nudged his head towards the door. "Good luck with asking that guy. He's a jerk and a half." He was about to fly off back in the direction where they came from but the older teenager stopped him.

"Oh, yeah. A little advise," Kevin murmured conspiratorially, pointing discreetly at the peeved red head tapping her feet impatiently. "When she's annoyed at you, she likes ya."

"Kevin!" she snapped at his dilly-dallying, pointing her hand at the door.

"See? And she totally digs me," the mutant confirmed, presenting his evidence.

"Hmm… That's interesting," Foetor noted eagerly, his wings buzzing more speedily. "Will remember that. See ya, dudes."

Julie waved at him goodbye while Ship called out his own name and wagged his tail. Grandpa Max thanked the Lepidopterran that soared away. Gwen had her back turned to the door already.

"I like that guy," Kevin said to Gwen before the door of the prison cell closed behind him. Her grunt of disgust was cut off when the door shut.

---

Piercing scarlet coldly observed the figures that entered, the shadows that fell around the eyes further emphasizing the sharpness of the glower.

"The visitors I desire the least," the red jacketed figure greeted, staring at the team through his nose even if he was sitting while they were standing.

"We don't like seeing you as much as you don't like seeing us," the redhead Anodyte retorted, strolling that much closer to her cousin's clone.

"Spare me your small talk," the Galvan swiped his hand flippantly. This caused Gwen to frown. "What is it that you want?"

Completely agreeing to the terms, the mutant threateningly slammed his fists on the table in front of the white haired boy. The table shook at the force. "D'ya have anything to do with Fatum?"

"Perhaps," was the deadpan reply.

The female Tennyson placed a hand on her companion's metal shoulder to pull him back a little bit. "Is that a yes?" she hazarded.

"No," the red eyed creature responded with a huff.

"So you don't have anything to do with it?" Gwen tried coaxing a proper response.

"I did not say that," the Galvan iterated, a chuckle bubbling in his throat at the frustration steadily rising on the faces of his interrogators.

"Then what do-- Ugh!" The red-haired girl cried out, clenching her fists at her sides. Her manna was instinctively collecting on her hands. "My cousin is not going to stay in prison because of that stunt you pulled at Fatum. Just confess!"

For a moment or two, Albedo simply stared at her display. A smirk slowly crept on his lips while he uttered in amusement, "I hope he enjoys the facilities half as much as I do."

"You know what? I'm about to kick your ass," the mutant beside the furious girl snapped, cracking his knuckles at the time they were wasting volleying snippy comments.

"I happen to recall that you were trapped in our previous encounter. What makes you less incompetent now?" the Ben copy rejoined, a patronizing expression surfacing on his pale face.

"You got no Omnitrix," Kevin pointed out, raising his clenched hand. "Right now, you're just a nerd in a four-walled box and my fist is itching to talk to you. If you're really smart, you gonna say somethin'."

"Something," was the insolent response.

This time, it was Max who stepped in before Kevin attacked the red clad teenager. Patting the older boy's arm down, the old man walked closer until he was directly in front of his grandson's evil twin.

He smiled slightly at the uncanny physical resemblance. The resemblance ended there, however. The red eyes arrogantly glared up at Max.

"You're already in prison, Albedo. I'm pretty sure this isn't pleasant for you. What we're proposing here is a way to lighten up your sentence," the old man suggested kindly.

"Ben Tennyson is also already in prison," the Galvan snorted, glowering at the large man condescendingly. "While this establishment leaves much to be desired, the concept of that fool experiencing the same inconvenience provides enough pleasantries."

Max frowned. The creature was attempting his best to confound the situation. Albedo was giving nothing away.

"Okay, you're really asking for it," Kevin grated, advancing towards the red jacketed figure and readying his fists.

"Not only is the Omnitrix bearer an inept cretin but he also seeks the employ of a mere thug," Albedo directly insulted the mutant, whose ire was quickly incited.

Growling, Kevin grabbed the criminal's collar and pulled his mace hand back. The red clothed teen curled into himself and cringed visibly. A small hand lay lightly on Kevin's shoulder, stopping him yet again. The hand was attached to a pink sleeved arm.

"Wait," the pink-clothed girl that had remained quiet for the entirety of the interrogation suddenly spoke, staring with pleading eyes at the mutant. "Can I talk to him first?"

Staring at the girl for a while, then glancing at the struggling copy he was lifting off the floor, then flicking his gaze at the redhead who just nodded in agreement, he let his arm fall. He grumbled irritably when he unfastened his hand around the Galvan's white shirt. He supposed he was satisfied enough with the sound of the patronizing jerk falling gracelessly back down on his seat.

Hands clasped in front of her, Julie apologized, "Uh, sorry about all that. We're all just a bit jumpy what with our friend being in prison and all." She pulled up a chair and sat herself down opposite Albedo.

"And who would you be?" he asked disrespectfully, a sneer appearing on his face.

With a bright smile, Julie stretched her hand out. "I'm Julie," she introduced perkily. "I'm, uh, a good friend of Ben." The complete information really wasn't necessary so she didn't bother to tell him. He appeared to be uninterested anyway.

The girl's outstretched arm simply hung in the air for a minute. Albedo simply stared at it with disgust.

She pulled her arm back slowly. "Right. Get to the point. Um." Leaning in closely, she hoped that showing that she was comfortable enough to come closer would make him less defensive. She remained oblivious to the stiffer position he held, a blaring sign of discomfort at their proximity. "We just need to find out what's happening here. We were hoping you'd throw us a clue."

Snapping his head back to laugh derisively, he asserted, "Amusing. You actually believe I would assist you with anything. You will receive no information from me."

With a pleading expression, she reached her hand to touch his. He yanked his hand back as if it was burnt, his expression was reminiscent of a deer in the headlights. On the sideline, Gwen watched this exchange with a knowing look dawning on her face.

"This place is pretty barricaded," Julie stated conversationally, gazing around the cell. "When we were outside, I saw how tight the security was. It's really cool how much gadgets they have just to watch over the prisoners let alone the stuff they use to keep you guys inside." She beamed in admiration. "I guess you really are that smart to have gotten out of this place."

For the first time, Albedo actually stared at the floor instead of raising his chin in superciliousness. Gwen was already forming conclusions why. The white hair shielded half of his face as he scoffed, "If only." He raised his head. "Do you understand how intolerable this box they refer to as a detention center is?" Gripping the red jacket with great force, his hands shook with anger. "Not that it compares to this uncomfortable, hairy human body I am confined in!"

"So you have nothing to do with this?" Max confirmed.

"N--" he barked, before immediately clamping his mouth shut. Comprehension dawned on him, mouth gawking only to stutter at Julie's cheerful face.

The team started to leave the cell.

"Thank you!" Julie said sweetly, her head bowing slightly in appreciation. She rose from her chair and made to leave, the Mechamorph bounding back into her arms.

Whatever frustrated words that were about to be released from the Galvan's mouth was cut off by the prison door slamming shut.

"That guy was telling the truth. Finally. Good one!" Kevin exhaled gratefully, slapping Julie's back. The girl stumbles slightly even if he had controlled his strength. "Very underhanded. Didn't think you were the type."

"It could happen," Julie stated with a simple shrug. She turned her attention back to the gray metal door containing Ben's copy. "I think we should thank him at least. Maybe we could get the Plumbers to give him some chilli fries or something. Ben loves that stuff."

"How did you know he likes that?" Gwen asked curiously.

"Ben tells me about his adventures sometimes," the black-haired girl reasoned, shrugging her shoulders.

"But that didn't really count as helping." The quarter Anodyte bristled while she glared at the door. "It's not him. We're back to square one."

"Actually," the older man interrupted, his index finger raised. "It did get us somewhere, Gwen. That information moved us forward. We can start looking elsewhere."

---

_The next day, Albedo's eyes would widen at the sight of the putrid miasma Ben was obsessed with when it is given to him. Automatically, he would assume that the box is an insulting taunt of some sort and would let loose a row of offensive words to adeptly describe what he believed the visitors to be. Nonetheless, he would begrudgingly feel grateful as he finally placed the first revolting, smelly chilli fry into his mouth._

---

Since they wanted to inform the savior of the Universe that the culprit was still up in the air, the team went back to Foetor. He helpfully pointed them in the direction of Ben's cell and handed them the passwords. "Just don't tell anyone I been handing this much info to you guys or I'm in deep crap. Now scram. I got some patrolling duties and you guys're totally cramping ma style."

The cell was less cramped than the previous one they entered and slightly better lit. On the far end of the room where there was less light, a brown-haired teenager sat unmoving on the bare bed. Shadows wrapped around his form and obscured the majority of his features. Nonetheless, it was still easy to notice the blank facial expression he was sporting while he stared off vaguely at the wall to the side.

"Ben?" his cousin tried to confirm, the still, statue-like figure so frozen that she thought it might be a cardboard cut-out instead.

"Yeah?" the statue-like figure responded evenly, sounding exactly like her cousin.

"Are you okay?"

"Uh-uh," was the lifeless reply. It was as if the prison had just removed all the energy from his body and left him as a husk of what he used to be.

"Ben, it's Grandpa Max," the old man said comfortingly, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder as he came closer.

Ben looked up, greeting hollowly, "It's nice to see you."

His grandfather's eyebrows knitted in concern at the behavior. He wondered how badly the circumstance must have affected the boy. He sounded sincerely consoling, "We're doing everything we can to get you out of here. It's just gonna take a little bit longer because it's not who we originally thought."

The green clothed teen returned his absorbed gaze at the wall before muttering quietly, "I can't taste the food here." The voice was a wisp of breathed air and if they hadn't been focusing on what he had to say they would probably believe it was just unintelligible gibberish.

Gwen wondered about the vacant stare, why he seemed disinterested at the important information they'd just given him and why he refused to look at anyone.

"That's natural, man," the mutant joked light-heartedly, just waving his hand in the air dismissively. "It's prison food. What d'ya expect? A gourmet banquet?"

"I'll bring some of my home cooked meals if you want," Grandpa Max proposed with a smile.

Gwen started to really worry when her cousin didn't even cringe.

The pink clothed girl stared with increasing concern. Slowly approaching the motionless boy, she intertwined her fingers into his. Even then, the wall still occupied his attention. Liquid dark eyes prickled. She bit her lip. Inside her chest, her heart clenched, squeezed and bled.

_Didn't he even notice that she was there?_

---

_Author's Notes: _Uh-oh. So, it's not Albedo. O_o What happens next? **Read and review! **

And sorry about the painfully transparent Albedo/Julie. I couldn't help myself. XP And I'm also sorry about the length and drastic decrease in quality. I'm well aware. I'll make it up to you on Chapter 5. Love you lots, guys. :3


	5. Now the Old King is Dead

Chapter 5: Now the Old King is Dead

Four walls, one ceiling, one floor. Barren except for a measly bed at the opposite end of the door. There was a chair, maybe two. All the four corners of the room, the furniture, the one figure sitting in silence, were blanketed in shadows.

Nothing substantial occurred for the duration of his stay. Though food was handed every now and again. The Plumber who passed by never stayed long enough to be pestered. He wished that he had time to bring his action figure - which were not dolls, in spite of what Gwen called them - or his TV because playing shadow puppets bored him after some time. The place was mind numbing to the extreme.

Not to mention there was this exasperating buzzing. He wasn't sure where it originated from. After all, the rest of the place was a mystery to him. In addition to that, the general direction came from everywhere. It was a quiet enough sound so he couldn't complain without sounding like a prissy, whiny idiot. Nevertheless, he wasn't denying the fact that it bothered him. His only escape from the noise was sleep.

Then his dreams decided he wasn't perturbed enough that all few instances of slumber were plagued with nightmares. Red. They were always chaotic and washed in red. The dreams made no sense once he shot into wakefulness - bug eyed, sweat bulleting down his forehead, heart battering through his ribcage - frightened out of his wits. It was unsurprising when he started to think that the room was caving in on him.

Imagination during his youth was overactive, carrying on well into the present. Owing to this wonderful aspect of his personality, the shadows around the room seemed to be moving when he wasn't completely focused on them. Thankfully, he was smart and old enough to know it was a trick of his brain, trying to make the situation more exciting than it really was.

Outside of the four walled box, his team wasn't able to achieve anything productive because they had to poke around to find out who it really was that destroyed the Plumbers headquarters on Fatum. Useless. The circumstance forced him to sit everything out and be redundant. Even with the most powerful weapon in the Universe, he was still useless.

---

_Grandpa's kind and determined face came into view, the wrinkles from a comforting smile deepening with the lack of light. His voice was strong and confident when he declared, "We'll do everything we can. In the meantime, you have to cooperate with the Plumbers. It will be the biggest proof of your lack of guilt. This investigation we're doing, it's ongoing. I'm not going to let you get stuck in here. I promise."_

_From the corner of his eyes, a sad smile peeked underneath a curtain of short, straight black hair._

---

The sheets underneath him swiped and fluttered to the ground when he suddenly jumped out of bed.

_Sorry about disobeying, Grandpa. _Somehow, he was certain Max was used to that sort of thing at this point.

Twiddling with the Omnitrix, he started to dial through the selections contemplatively. When the image of Humongousaur appeared, he was baffled with the black, empty Vaxasaurian-shaped hologram that was there in his place.

_What the--?_

Tapping the Omnitrix impatiently, he wondered about why it chose to remove Humongousaur as an option. Did that form escape? But he hadn't tampered with the Omnitrix at all.

Unwillingly, he slowly twisted the dial to the next form. Brown eyebrows raised high into his bangs. This was new. The new alien was bipedal, lizard-like in appearance and had a face that was relatively blank of features except for its sharp, slanting eyes. Foreboding settled down his spine and gripped hard enough to make him nervous. He hadn't even selected it yet. Shifting the dial, he searched through the rest. Old ones were more trustworthy. They had abilities he knew and was more confident about using.

He slapped his hand on the Omnitrix. A flash of green.

Wiring coiled in complex entanglements attached to vital machineries surrounding the prison. Picking through them carefully – the ones specifically keeping him inside, he raised his arms and tugged. He heard the beginnings of an alarm before that swiftly choked out. The light in his room disappeared, wrapping the place in even more darkness.

"Lodestar," he murmured, his currently floating metal head shifting to stare at the door. Magnetizing the rectangular piece of metal inside, the entrance was forced open. He hurled it at the guards who were preoccupied with glancing around in bewilderment at the prison's sudden blackout.

Plumbers held a special place of respect in his heart. Sure, the device permanently attached on his left arm made it difficult to consider anyone an idol. Nevertheless, they were there fighting to keep the Universe in one piece long before he even knew there was another meaning to the word 'plumbers' other than those guys who fix broken pipes. In addition to that, these galactic law enforcement officers were on his side. Usually.

He stepped out into the corridors. The red emergency light flickered on, allowing the people to see.

Ignoring the Plumbers that had finally noticed the escapee that were barreling down from both corridors, he focused on the now louder buzzing sound. _Why was it still there? _He was hoping that once he turned off the electricity inducing generators, it would stop. It must have come from the defensive alien tech that contained the prisoners. He could only turn off his own, lest the other prisoners escaped. Even with his barely organic body, the noise was crippling. The desperate need to clutch at his ears when he had none made him accidentally slam both of what passed for his hands on the large shoulders of his alien form. The ringing it produced only exacerbated the situation.

Some of the Plumbers were baffled with the Biosovortian's frantic random arm swinging. They wondered briefly what he was batting away. One of the Plumbers who was not really dwelling on such ideas, initiated the attack. The speedy Kineceleran was at the ready with the restraints she was carrying when she charged the prisoner.

A backhand. It wasn't even a completely conscious action but it sent the Kineceleran careening through the corridors, her flying body even hitting some of her other colleagues. The restraints floated to his side, crushed.

The buzzing had become distinct, forming sensible words that finally registered in the Omnitrix wearer's confused mind. He hadn't missed the stares they were sending him before they retaliated for what he had done to their companion. The buzzing were murmurs. Insulting. Jeering. Accusing. The respect was definitely not shared.

_Were they stupid? He was innocent! _This was all some stupid mistake. What had happened was not his fault. He was being blamed for some incident that he didn't even know had occurred, let alone caused.

The number of Plumbers rushing towards him made him decide to collapse the metal wall beside them. This action immensely decreased his pursuers, allowing him enough time to transform into another type of alien.

---

The Lepidopterran, Foetor, was on duty to patrol through the corridors when the first note of the alarm sounded and winked out as soon as it began. Being quite a laidback creature characteristically, he shrugged through it and went on with his patrol. Until the lights also disappeared.

"Oh, c'mon!" he whined irritably, wondering if it was one of those young electricians they mistakenly brought in to handle the complex machinery in the Null Void prison. Newbies could never be trusted to know all the alien tech available at the fortress and nearly crapped their pants at being called in to the prison that housed the worst of the galaxy. Trembling appendages did not cooperate with complicated technology.

The emergency light eventually filtered through the corridors, flooding the gray metal walls with the bright vibrancy of red.

Certain that the old man would come to the rescue and slap screwdrivers all over the offending appendages that caused the blackout, he slowly floated through the corridor again.

There was a metallic creaking sound that was steadily getting louder. Quickly flying through the source due to what instinct told him, he navigated the sharp corner easily. Wherever it came from, the metal had already given way. He stopped short when what was supposedly a dead end had suddenly appeared to be a large irregularly shaped access.

"Jetray!"

_Hey, wasn't that Benni?_ The teenager immediately hated the nickname once Foetor suggested it, which automatically translated to the Lepidopterran that the name was pure perfection. _What was the kid doing?_

The Aerophibian lifted himself from the top of the fallen metal wall and leapt into the air. The Lepidopterran attempted to pin down the rampaging escapee with the green goo he released from his mouth. Unfortunately, the red blur had zipped past the attack and past him. The force of the air slicing beside him nearly toppled the Lepidopterran. Everyone else behind him was in hot pursuit once Foetor decided to follow the kid.

_Was this part o' the grand plan to prove the kid was innocent? 'Cause it ain't workin'._

---

By the time he arrived in what he believed to be the center of the complex, Jetray had slammed into his sixth metal wall. He was forcing himself not clutch at the general direction of his ears at the reverberating sound of accusations. Every time he couldn't help it, one arm would uselessly flap while the other gripped his skull. Due to the lack of balance, he would change direction and spiral to the ground. A wall always met him first before he started to really fall down to the earth, at which point he'd raised both wings to flap again.

The entire process slowed him down despite the Aerophibian's speed. He couldn't allow the taunts to get through to him so badly since there was another Aerophibian in the force. Through sharp green eyes that glanced briefly behind him, he was able to detect that particular Aerophibian gaining on him.

Smirking with frustration and desperation, he thought to himself, 'Okay. You guys really wanna do this?'

He landed on the floor lightly, light enveloping him as he descended. A deeper voice exclaimed, in a voice much louder than usual in an attempt to drown out the talks amongst his pursuers, "Swampfire!"

Throwing the fistful of seeds in their general direction, trees swiftly grew out, roots digging past the metal floor deep into the soil. The branches covered the majority of the hall, tugging and clasping and gripping with deathly force around the Plumbers unfortunate enough to get caught in the vegetation. The others behind the wall of plants stepped back as the vines swiped at them in an attempt to catch them.

A Lepidopterran was able to navigate outside this plant wall, continuing his pursuit of the Methanosian that was running down the hallways straight to the control room.

_The old man._ Dread washed over the Lepidopterran when the Methanosian sped in that particular direction.

The elderly Transylian didn't exactly treat Foetor with a lot of care, swinging his devices with ease when the Lepidopterran made small mistakes. The Lepidopterran was part of a hive, not necessarily possessing the close-knit family unit that developed in other aliens. Their so-called family was the entire hive. And that wasn't really a family; it was a working group that was lead by its Queen. He hadn't been to his hive in so long he had detached himself enough to have a more individualistic tendency. Any other Lepidopterran found Foetor – this creature who named himself, what was wrong with him – very strange. This was also partially the reason why he had taken a relationship with the aging Transylian that was comparable to that of a father and a son.

"Benni!" he shouted at the Methanosian before immediately grabbing him with all of his limbs and slamming the struggling plant creature against the nearest wall. "What are you--?"

The half-grumbled, half-hissed words were indeterminable at the first time they were enunciated. Then when they grew louder – and it was so loud it echoed through the hall, confusion distracted Foetor enough that he hadn't seen the attack coming.

"Shut up!" the Omnitrix-wielder screamed, sounding for all the world like he was suffering through pain. The Lepidopterran wasn't even strong enough to put that much pressure on the Methanosian.

The branches that wrapped themselves around the Lepidopterran just seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, forcefully slamming his body into the nearest wall. The strength of the plants' grip around his limbs actually managed to break them.

Weakly, Foetor managed to grumble at his trapped body and broken limbs, "Well, that's not cool."

The Methanosian continued on his way. The murmurs had subsided. _He didn't need this. He had to get away from them. _Everyone was slowly placing themselves as his enemy. _Was this what being a hero was really like? No one to support him when everything wasn't going well?_

As a safety precaution, he decided to transform himself into a less organic form while he charged into the door of the observation room.

Electricity surged through his body upon barging through the door. When the heat stopped traveling through his form, he murmured under his breath, "Chromastone."

The Transylian sitting on a hovering couch, gingerly retracted the firearm while his eyes widened at the Crystalsapien. A stray thought about that not being one of his smartest ideas came to him. "Ben," he mentioned carefully, "you must return to your cell."

It was inappropriate to chuckle derisively that way but he did anyway. "You people already think I'm guilty," he responded simply. "There's no point staying. I'll prove to you all that I'm innocent." His voice became demanding. "Get me out of here."

The Transylian replied with the determination that could only be compared with a martyr's, "No." He knew he was taking this breaking the mold of his race principle too far. He was older now. He didn't have much in the way of strength.

If he had teeth to grit, he would've done so. As Chromastone, he simply gripped the door harder and stepped closer. The Transylian was endeavoring to make the situation drastic. He'd have preferred if people just complied. Things would be that much easier.

He remembered being able to turn into Benvicktor as a kid. Electricity would only help this guy, not harm him. So he settled on attacking with his own hands. Brute force was the only option he could think of, muddled as his brain was. The power of his attack was completely unnecessary but he didn't process that information at that time due to his aggravation and urgent need to escape.

The Transylian doubled over the floor in pain. The question was raised again, but nothing could get past the creature's unbelievable stubbornness. The Omnitrix bearer knew that he was strapped for time, especially as the ringing sound of feet stomping on a metal floor grew disturbingly closer.

The one eye Chromastone possessed eventually noted that there was more space behind the surrounding monitors. The area possessed large circular machinery that was suspiciously familiar.

_Of course._ These Plumbers wouldn't want to be trapped in the Null Void forever. They were supposed to keep the criminals inside, not themselves. It looked similar to the technology the Highbreed used to transport themselves through different areas of the Universe with ease.

Clicking the core at the center of his chest, he immediately became airborne as he shouted the name, "Jetray!" victoriously. This triumphant feeling was swiftly shot down, quite literally, right on his chest. While the Aerophibian slammed into the monitors, sparks flying overhead, he hoped dearly that the Omnitrix wasn't damaged by the blow.

Sharp eyes opening, he glowered at the Tetramand with a cannon of some sort in his four arms that was pointed in Jetray's direction.

"You're coming with me, boy," gritted the Tetramand, authoritatively walking into the scene.

"I don't think so," the Aerophibian spat, blood following the words as they were released.

The neuroshock blast was directed at the arms holding the gun first. Just after the red creature withdrew his hands from the weapon in pain, he targeted the creature at the center of the head. Unfortunately, the blood flowing from the hole in his chest was draining him quickly enough that his vision blurred and his aim was thrown off. However he did sear the Tetramand's face, causing the swearing creature to stumble back outside and fall on his back.

_Shame about that. _

Immediately turning his attention to the device that would release him from this place, he felt like kissing the Omnitrix when it translated the commands and dials that allowed him to specify the coordinates. He didn't, of course. His head couldn't reach his chest without breaking anatomical conventions. _And he wasn't that weird._

The device activated, the hole through the center of the circle spiraling into the dimension of his choice. He flew straight into freedom. Behind him, the device shorted out. The Omnitrix was also nice enough to show him a timed self-destruct option. It wasn't an explosive type of self-destruct. So he could feel a little bit comforted with that knowledge.

Freedom, of course, was felt with the force of branches slapping liberally into his face. It wasn't the trees's fault, per se. They didn't actually move towards him to attack. It was the occasional blurring of his vision coupled with the pain from his torso that prevented any navigational expertise from surfacing. The tree branches added quite a bit of scrapes and bruises other than the debilitating wound that was on his middle.

Bellwood was already close, thankfully enough, when the giddiness set in. If he was that lightheaded, there wasn't enough blood traveling to his brain. There was absolutely nothing funny about grazing his wing or arm across a tree trunk so he wanted to taper down the need to laugh.

The familiar house in his field of vision made him accelerate towards it. The Omnitrix, while mostly helpful, also had the terrific habit of having a mood swing, becoming uncooperative when he neared the tree beside the house. The intergalactic symbol of peace on his chest flashed red.

A curse escaped his lips as he fell through even more branches, finally slamming his already painful torso on a much larger branch. There was a creaking, snapping sound underneath him. Grabbing a branch on top of him that hadn't broken, he used his stronger arm to pull up and lessen the weight on the branch he was sitting on.

Looking through the glass, he wished he could brush his arm through his now appropriately bird's nest looking mop of hair before he had to knock. He wanted to look a bit more presentable. But that was a silly concept at the moment, what with his eyes blurring again and his stronger arm weakening from blood loss. So he tapped gently on the window.

A girl with a bob of straight black hair pivoted away from the tennis match blaring on the television.

"Hey," he greeted with the casualness of someone who was forgetting they had a hole in their chest and barely hanging from a tree. "Can I stay over here for a bit?" He gripped the wound with his knocking hand when the pain nearly made him bend over to become a splat on their yard. The cynical tone in his voice suddenly filtered in, despite the need to burst in laughter. "It'll be like a sleepover. I promise I won't make too much noise. It hurts to laugh anyway."

---

…_Long live the king._

---

_Author's Notes: _Chapter title is from the song Viva La Vida by Coldplay. Okay, I promise not to write something as long as Chapter 4 again. XD

While this may be a total non-sequitur, I just noticed the general outcry of hatred towards Season 3!Ben. B-but… I like him. D: I love jerkass, cocky, cloud-cuckoolander Ben because he makes me ROFL with his antics. Writing him is even more of a riot. He was a straight-laced generic hero in the other seasons. That's kind of not exciting or challenging to write. :/

**Read and review please. **


	6. Outside Heaven's Door

Chapter 6: Outside Heaven's Door

Legs dangling over the bed, she watched the Australian Open broadcast on the channel with edge of the seat anticipation. The ball had volleyed back and forth for a while. When the ball was thrown at an unpredictably far area, she would sit up and edge that much closer to the television. The two players were well-matched. The long-running winner of the competition ran after the ball that was slammed towards him in an overhead smash.

A tap on the window nearly made her push herself off the bed in surprise. Instead she turned, wondering who it could be at the middle of the night. It couldn't be a bird because the tapping was done three times.

What greeted her made her stomach fall on the floor.

"Hey," a barely smiling figure addressed casually, the green of his eyes seeming to turn gray in the background of the dark night. Her heart caught in her throat and prevented her from speaking. "Can I stay over here for a bit?" She couldn't peel her eyes off the drenched black shirt with the bright red hole on the middle. He grabbed the wound forcefully, suddenly jolting from his position. At this she jumped out of bed. "It'll be like a sleepover. I promise I won't make too much noise. It hurts to laugh anyway."

The only word her rattled mind would let her release was, "Ben!" Rushing to the windows, she fumbled with the latch in a panic. When her fingers found themselves unable to coordinate a push and lift, she openly swore at the wooden latch in anger.

"Wow, I never heard you curse before," he reacted in wonderment. Immediately after saying so, dots danced in his vision. Thankfully, the windows burst open. Practically slammed away, actually. The nervous girl inside reached both arms out to usher him inside.

"What happened? How did you--?" The words jumbled out and cut off, fervently interrupted by the worry she had for him. Her heart was pounding in her ears.

The green - red - clothed teenager burst into laughter, as though the recollection of events were hilarious enough to disregard that he was exacerbating his injury. Julie wondered whether it was just the usual old Ben or blood loss making him less rational. She embraced him when he dropped from the window.

"I wanted to say something stereotypical like 'long story' but it's not. I just busted out," he conversed, cringing every now and again. "Omnitrix and all that. I--" She placed her hand gently on top of his own, pressing on the wound firmly.

"Please stop," she interrupted anxiously, supporting him while he walked. She lead him to the bed. "Don't talk anymore." Gently lifting his fingers from the wound, she observed the red liquid flow onto her own fingers. Her chest constricted. "…It's so bad."

As if he found this still amusing, he snorted again. When they finally reached the bed, he slowly sat down. Some of the blood trickled down the sheets and the carpet below him.

He hadn't wanted to drag her into this. Not that he had many options. Going back home would be incredibly stupid. His freedom would last seconds before the Plumbers would eventually reclaim him and take him back to prison. Gwen wouldn't understand since she probably agreed with Grandpa wholeheartedly. While he had better chances staying with Kevin, who cared little for the justice system, he was sure he'd be kicked out once he annoyed Kevin enough. Kevin had the habit of picking on him. He wasn't exactly receptive to that so he would fight back. This happened immediately if they were within each other's range. So all those options eventually lead him to being caught by the Plumbers and dragged back to jail.

"Sorry about that," he apologized sheepishly, trying to wipe off the blood on the bed sheet with the sleeve of his jacket. The warm fingers stroking his cheek made him stop.

"It's fine," Julie reassured, half to herself. Collecting her resolve, she stood straight. "I'm going to get a first aid kit downstairs. Keep your hand on the wound." When she turned to go towards the door, his voice stopped her.

"I'm kinda hungry, too," he proposed awkwardly in embarrassment, feeling his strength slowly drain from him. He hoped having some fuel would get his body's engines back on track. Or perhaps it was just the blood loss making him feel sleepy and exhausted. He was feeling shameful about requesting so much from her, especially since he was planning to stay. He really shouldn't be such a load on her. _Some hero he was._

"Did you want me to get anything particular?" she asked helpfully.

Perking enthusiastically for someone whose lids were trying to close, he suggested hopefully, "I'm running low on smoothy?"

Smiling fondly, she berated in a way too gentle manner, "Be serious, okay?"

"I am serious," he defended jokingly, pouting at her childishly in the hopes of getting her to acquiesce. The light-heartedness only lasted as long as it could. The weight of the situation strained the atmosphere hard enough that it felt like everything would break.

"Will you be okay while I'm gone?" she questioned worriedly, puncturing the silence.

Green eyes twinkled, despite the dull grayness seeping in. "I'm _the_ Ben Tennyson, savior of the Universe," he chuckled, smiling confidently. "I can take a flesh wound." Said flesh wound took this cue to bleed down farther, darkening his jeans and creating several dots on the carpet.

Julie made her way outside. When she exited the room, she broke. Leaning on the door, all the sharp edges of herself stabbed into her heart. Within a few seconds, she collected all the shattered little pieces and held them close to where it would hurt the most.

She walked downstairs in tip-toes so no one would hear.

---

It wasn't long before their questioning of the locals in Fatum simply frustrated them. No one could attest to Ben's absence in the scene. The people on the planet were reined in, slightly unwilling to hand whatever they knew. Some of them had the air of relief at destruction of the headquarters but it was probably just a general distrust of authority figures in general. At least, Gwen assumed so. They had gone on to ask some of Kevin's 'friends' for some information on a possible frame-up or outside manipulation by one of Ben's enemies. Red could have meant anything. When they found nothing, they began to hone in much closer.

"Ghostfreak?" Gwen repeated incredulously, shaking her head. "Ben's not stupid enough to try him again. I'd like to think he's smarter than that. And he hates that guy enough not to."

"But Ghostfreak could be trying to force himself outside," the older man suggested, offering the worm meat wrap towards the teenagers in front of him. The coordinated fervent head shaking told him no. "I can't seem to find some explanation how but it's still a possibility we have to consider."

"Eh, I still think you're cousin's stupid enough to," Kevin remarked with a grin, earning a blank stare from the red-haired Tennyson.

Suddenly, the Plumber's Badges on all of the trio rang out loudly. Max was the first to pull out his own badge. He clicked the center just in time for the others to pull out their own badges.

"It's not a message. It's an announcement," the old man stated in wonderment.

The announcement blared from three badges in synchronicity, the disturbing message echoing through interior of the Galvanic Mechamorph coursing its way back to Earth: "_Ben Tennyson has escaped from prison. The human was charged with murder. This is a request to provide information on his whereabouts. As you all know, Ben Tennyson is the possessor of the Omnitrix. We advise you not to engage, unless you possess sufficient back-up. We repeat: Ben Tennyson has escaped from --"_ When Max shut off the announcement, the other two followed suit.

"Wow," the older teen gasped under his breath. "More respect."

On the other hand, red-head groaned. She placed her head in her hands. "Ugh! That idiot. How old does he think he is, ten? I should've known he wouldn't listen." She tried to comfort herself with the slowly enlarging vision of the blue and green swirls of the planet they were coming closer to. This action was only going to make the situation worse.

"This is serious," Grandpa Max mumbled grimly. "The Plumbers will hunt him down. We have to find Ben quickly. If this is Ghostfreak's doing, well, it looks like it's getting worse."

---

He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to think of something more pleasant. Like kicking butt and saving the world. The pain still managed to destroy whatever happy thoughts he was trying to conjure.

While she wrapped the bandages firmly around his torso, she noted just exactly how pale he was. She wasn't medically trained. There was only so much she knew of fixing injuries and she was worried she was doing something wrong.

"We should get you to a hospital," she suggested kindly, staring into green eyes that fluttered downwards every now and again. _'Cause they will do this better. _"You might need a blood transfusion or something."

"No!" he exclaimed in alarm, his green eyes now completely wide open after he grabbed her arm. "No hospitals. They'll find out and take me back. I don't wanna go back." _They. His team. They wouldn't understand._

"They'll find out anyway," she tried harder.

"I want that to happen later rather than earlier." His voice was more determined now. Convincing in an equal ground to hers. "Please?"

"But--" she continued, but stopped herself. She needed to compromise. After all, she wanted to understand his position. It was the only thing she could do for him, being less useful than the rest of his team. She wanted a role to fill, even if there wasn't a space. If this was that role, she would eagerly fill it. " Get a check up first. If you don't need the transfusion, I'll even drag you back out." She smiled sadly at her attempt at humor. At her attempt at normalcy.

"The hospital will contact my family," he stated stubbornly, she could see the well-hidden panic in his eyes. She finally stopped bandaging him so she could hold his trembling hand. "My parents will have a heart attack if they find out about this. And Grandpa and Gwen will make me go back."

"We'll tell them not to," she coaxed, smiling comfortingly. "Believe me, they'll do it if you tell them you'll run if they don't. What's most important is to help you." _Please. She wanted to help._

For a few moments, he remained silent. He was digesting her reasoning. The arguments finally clicked.

"…Okay," he sighed eventually, relaxing his body enough to allow her to continue. The bandages were still being drenched. The blood was taking far too long to stop flowing outside. Mindlessly, he called out, "Julie?"

"Yeah?" she wrapped the bandages just a little bit more tightly to staunch the bleeding. Inspecting his face for discomfort, she was relieved when he didn't appear to mind.

"You believe me right?" he asked uncertainly. _About everything. That he wouldn't do such a thing. That he was still a hero. _He was so scared. Nobody he encountered seemed to believe him anymore. This was enough to make him start doubting too.

"Always," she responded simply. It sounded like the declaration of unwavering truth. Something that nothing could ever topple.

Feeling stupid about his heart fluttering, he wondered if it was just the gunshot that nicked the organ. He doubted it, though. Otherwise, he would be dead instead of dying.

"We'll have to wait 'til my parents are asleep," she said quietly, focused completely at his injury. "I'm actually grounded. Missed my curfew last time. My dad nearly stopped me from going to tennis practice." The words were all conversational; just a need to speak to calm the anxiety in her heart from a hammering to a low tremor.

But it didn't stop him from feeling immensely guilty. "That's my fault, right?" he asked jadedly, although it was more of a statement instead of a question.

She smiled brightly. "No, not really." The look of disbelief made her continue. "I sneaked out myself. I wanted to do it," she reassured with a shrug. Patting her hand lightly over his chest, she hoped she would be able to slip into her parents' room at some point and borrow one of her dad's shirts for him. His own shirt had a hole and was covered in blood. It sat innocently in a basin inside her personal bathroom. She wiped the blood on her hands with a face towel that was previously sitting on a blue - red - basin beside her.

"I'm a bad influence then," Ben amended.

"And I like it," she answered, winking conspiratorially and tapping his nose with a now clean finger.

The half-naked, haggard figure on the bed shook with rambunctious laughter, stopping abruptly when dizziness came over him at the sudden movement.

"Ben?" she addressed in concern.

"I'm cool," he responded casually, to abate her fears. "I just need a smoothy refill."

"Ben," she berated flatly, staring at him pointedly.

"Fine, fine," he chuckled simply. Gently setting the rest of his body down on the bed, he stared contemplatively at the ceiling. "I wish blood transfusion just happened by drinking smoothy."

Two beats. "What?" There was just too many weird things in Ben's mind she could never completely comprehend. She was lucky she caught up with most of them. This wasn't one of them.

"But that would make me a smoothy vampire," he continued on his strange thought pattern, skewing his lips to the side. With a grin, he remarked smartly, "Well, better than a sparkly one anyway."

"Are you still feeling light-headed?" she tried to confirm, placing her hand on his forehead. He took her hand off and stuck his tongue out. She just giggled girlishly in response. It alleviated the fear, the worry. At least for the moment.

"Nope," he said. "That was all me." He tried not to smile too widely at the fact that she was practically hovering on top of him. Regardless of the heroism and all the hectic adventures, he was still a teenager. She noticed enough to raise her eyebrow.

"And what's wrong with a sparkly vampire?" she asked, smirking as evilly as a pink-clothed small girl could ever achieve when she closed the distance between them. Her torso was bent forward to peer directly into his eyes, trying to be intimidating. Ben was polite enough to prevent the snort of laughter. The cutesy Hello Kitty theme in her bedroom only made this attempt even more ridiculous.

"Well, dating my cousin once and becoming our enemy are two examples," he enumerated, raising a finger at each point. He could smell her light perfume from how close she was.

The disappointment on his face was evident when she stood back to stare at him in confusion. "Kevin's a vampire?"

The laughter he was forcing down made his torso hurt. "He'd lynch you for saying that. He hates that guy."

---

A sneeze released itself from the mutant. Rubbing his metallic fingers over his stone nose, he knitted his eyebrows at his nose but dismissed it for the scene in front of him.

The kid had been missing for a few days. People were going to ask questions eventually, especially frightened, worried parents. Kevin himself had made enemies out of his own parents due to his volatile behavior. Lately, the strain was patching up so that he could reconstruct some semblance of ordinariness that he himself was doubtful he believed. Whatever passes for his family life would hardly compare with this kid's. While no one would bat an eyelash to his disappearance, except maybe this team, this kid was causing everyone to panic at his absence.

A woman with blonde hair shook her head slowly, clasping her husband's arm in a death grip. The disbelief on her face as she rejected the words that came from the older man's mouth spoke of what she thought about the entire situation. While her mouth was gawking widely, it was the man beside her that responded.

"Dad, we've called the police because he's been missing for three days. Three days, dad," Carl explained. "If he was here, that wouldn't have happened." The man shook his brown-haired head irritably. "You didn't say anything about this? Weren't we important enough to know about this? I knew we should've stopped this alien business somehow." He was grumbling angrily towards the end. The chasm between father and son seemed to grow.

"Carl, I'm sorry," Max apologized, a pained expression settling on his face. He tried to place a hand on his son's shoulder but a hand was raised to stop him. "I didn't expect it to take this long. I hoped we would fix it quickly so this wouldn't be necessary. I'm really sorry."

The older man watched his son squeeze his fingers over the bridge of his nose.

"I will get him back to you, I promise," Max vowed, determination and belief washed his expression.

"He would never do such a thing," Sandra suddenly intruded, blue eyes liquid. "Ben would never do that." It hurt to even put such a concept in the same line as her child's name.

"I know," Max answered in confirmation. "But you have to cover for him in school while this issue's unresolved. Please."

The conversation lasted for a while, though there was a strained, reluctant agreement by the end. It was such a family issue. Of course, Kevin felt extremely out-of-place being there to watch it. His defences were at the ready when they decided to confront Gwen as well but even she told him that she could handle it herself. After all, she understood where they were coming from. She kept her mouth shut at home when her uncle and aunt called her place to ask. The team had decided to withhold the information until they could successfully return him, in which case the pressure would be off. But it had to happen like this. It was bound to, anyway.

Everything had spiralled down already. This was just one more domino to the ever growing problem they had.

---

With graying green eyes, he observed the color he currently hated flow from a plastic bag into his arm. He knew it was irrational, it didn't stop him from hating it anyway.

Averting his gaze towards the sterile environment around him, he found that the blaring white was actually blinding him in its starkness. He wanted to be back in his own room instead of the place he was in. But he would probably be jumping at shadows if he was in his own place just the way he was doing in that hospital. While hospitals were naturally creepy, his house was threatening to him in a different way. The Plumbers would hone in one him so fast he wouldn't even be able to set foot in his room before he was staring at that four-walled box of a prison again.

So he amended his statement to himself and declared that he'd prefer to be back at Julie's house.

The door to the room opened, an attractive girl stepping inside with also quite attractive cups in both her hands.

"Feeling better?" she asked sweetly, handing him his wheatgrass and green tea smoothy. Placing herself beside him, she sipped quietly at her own strawberry drink.

"You're a lifesaver, Julie," he sighed adoringly, gripping the cup with both hands. He began to suck greedily into the drink.

Ben was probably oblivious to how much of an impact those words had on Julie, who had to place her drink down on her lap for a while. The girl stared at nothing in particular with a gratefully happy smile on her face.

"You know," he began quietly, lifting his left arm to gaze at the watch on it. "There's a new alien in the Omnitrix." His eyes darkened. "And Humongousaur's gone."

"Maybe the watch replaced him with the new alien," she proposed, placing the tip of the straw on her lips in thought.

"Yeah," he replied vaguely, still absorbed in the image of the intergalactic symbol of peace. Returning to stare at the imploring dark eyes of the girl on his bedside, he beamed at her. They were so close. So very close.

Fingers crawling towards the small ones, he intertwined his hand around hers. The place was blaring, but her appearance was muted. Grounded. Real. Her breath tickled his skin. Their noses touched. He felt her giggle instead of heard it. She tasted like strawberry. Strawberry smoothy, to be exact. It was so much better than sipping it through a straw.

For a few moments, the pain in his torso disappeared. Until a ring tone broke the spell.

"It's so late in the night," she muttered in confusion, fumbling in her sweater's pockets for the phone. She fished out the vibrating device and gave him an apologetic look. "Must be important. I'm gonna take this outside." She stood up and quickly walked towards the door. "Just relax and work on getting better."

Lower lip protruding childishly while his arms were crossed in front of his chest, he nodded his head begrudgingly as she closed the door.

The brunette decided to stare at the Omnitrix again, flicking through the selections absent-mindedly. Apprehension gripped his spine at the sight of three consecutive aliens disappearing from the choices. Humongousaur. Swampfire. Echo Echo. All the while the newcomer's hologram innocently stood within the Omnitrix. A range of negative emotions flitted through him before it settled with dread.

Nonetheless, he selected it. The core rose swiftly, waiting for his command. Seconds passed where he contemplated what he wanted to do. He plucked the IV needle from his right arm, ignoring the slight prickle of pain after he did so. Blood pooled on the original site of the needle injection.

Green eyes glared at the hologram.

He dreaded it. His hand continued to hover over the lifted core and the glowing image of the sharp-eyed newcomer. Something told him the creature's eyes would be red.

For all the prickling on his nape and the lead that fell in his stomach, he slammed his palm over the Omnitrix.

---

_Author's Notes: _I'm supposed to be doing my Biochemistry assignment but I was trying to punch this out instead because I seriously love you guys. XD I really need to get my head back in University work, though. I don't want to fail my final year.

By the way, Mike is totally an Edward parody. I was laughing my ass off at that episode. I don't hate Twilight; I'm usually indifferent. Although I'm a bit fond of it the way one does with little brothers. They annoy you and amuse you at different times. You ignore its existence until it starts bothering you, which happens a lot. And you call it Twerp for a nickname. XD

alienphantom: The economy? Why? *is confused*

Trust-Deceit: I'm positively obsessed with TVtropes. Sometimes I can just click on that site for an entire day going, "Oh my God, so true!" :D

Sape-101: I'm a little uncertain about how I handle Gwen. She's a bit of a mystery to me because I can't really relate to her. I think of her as intelligent and well-bred, and then I get stuck with her motivations. XD Thank you for the reassurance that I'm writing her alright. Oh and I have OCs in this story for roles that only they can fill.


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